EFFECT OF THE SUPPLEMENTATION OF VARIOUS OILS TO THE DIET ON GROWTH-PARAMETERS AND SLAUGHTERING DATA OF RABBITS

4 x 6 male 30 day old New Zealand White rabbits (initial weight 600 +/- 47 g) were used to investigate the effects of coconut oil, rape oil and soybean oil in the diet (70 g/kg diet) on fattening parameters and slaughtering data. The individually kept and ad libitum fed rabbits were slaughtered at day 53 with an average final live weight of 2594 +/- 179 g. The oil supplementation had no effect on the daily weight gain (average 38 g/d). The effect on feed intake was not statistically significant. However, there was a tendency for coconut oil and rape oil to reduce feed intake by about 13 % and for soybean oil by about 7 %. Supplementation of coconut oil and rape oil led to a significantly improved feed conversion efficiency (from 1:3.6 in the control to 1:3.1). The addition of soybean oil improved feed conversion in tendency to 1:3.3. Hot carcass weight and dressing percentage were not influenced significantly by the dietary treatment. The addition of oils increased kidney fat content, which was 1.6 % of hot carcass weight in the control group, to 2.6 % (coconut oil) and to 2.8 % (rape oil). Supplementation of soybean oil increased kidney fat content significantly to 3.3 %.